A Case Study of the Partnership Schools Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) Model

Abstract

This case study reports the feasibility of the Partnership Schools Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) model for school improvement in a Title I elementary school. Interviews were conducted and documents were collected for 3 years to study whether and how the school implemented key policy attributes—specificity, consistency, authority, power, and stability—that have explained the successful implementation of other CSR programs. The data also identified if and how the school implemented essential elements of teamwork, leadership, action plans, implemented activities, evaluation, and networking, which have explained improvements in programs of family and community involvement. With the implementation of the model, the case study school increased the number of families involved in students’ education at school and at home. Longitudinal achievement test scores showed that the CSR school improved the percentage of students attaining proficiency by state standards compared to schools that were matched, one each, for math, reading, and writing. The CSR school also closed its gap in test scores with the district as a whole, despite the fact that the district included several schools in more affluent neighborhoods with higher test scores in the base year. The study revealed a new factor for program development, transitioning, which extends the existing frameworks on program implementation by requiring plans and decisions about continuing a program or parts of it before the end of the CSR grant.